CONCORD, N.H. — A group of libertarians announced a project Wednesday to get 20,000 Americans to move to New Hampshire and work to transform it into a "free state" with fewer laws, smaller government and greater liberty.

New Hampshire, whose motto is "Live Free or Die," beat out nine other finalists for the Free State Project. Wyoming was runner-up in balloting conducted by about 5,000 members of the project around the country, vice president Elizabeth McKinstry said.

Kathy Sullivan, state Democratic Party chairwoman, said project members "can best be described as anarchists."

That's also what some FReepers say. Hmmmmm ....

Coincidence or conspiricy? You decide. Of course, I'm sure she's very sincere and really believes that. And isn't afraid for her job as a party hack if her Democrats fall into third place in new voter registrations.

Still, she reminds me of someone not usually thought of in the political arena....

4
posted on 10/01/2003 3:07:54 PM PDT
by archy
(Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)

New Hampshire is (historically) a conservative state, and considered very conservative when compared to its neightbor to the south. One problem with NH is that there are many from MA moving to NH to excape the blatant socialism of MA. And they are bringing their conservativism "a la carte" with them.

NH pays no income taxes but there are very high property taxes to make up for it. The worst case scenario is living in NH (pay high prop tax) and working in MA (still have to pay MA income taxes of 5.95%.)

There are 3 major routes to and from NH: I93, I95, and Rt3. Rt3 in MA is undergoing a major expansion from 2 lanes to 3 lanes. This is because so many people have moved to the Nashua and Rt3 areas but still work in MA on the tchnology belt of Rt128.

So, in my opinion, this was a great choice by the Libertarians, but it will not be easy since there is such an in flux of "moderates" from Massachusetts.

NH is fiscally conservative, has very strong family values, believes in personal responsibility, and has a traditional work and education ethic. However, to traditional Republican conservatives we are seen at times, liberal. This is because the majority, although we do not desire abortions, also do not want the government to be involved. Interesting fact about NH is that auto insurance is not mandatory but the percentage of uninsured is lower than in neighboring states where it isn't. Same with seatbelt usage. BTW, the seacoast towns have both the most liberal and conservative voters. Portsmouth and Durham liberal and the rest of the towns quite conservative. Rockingham county is becoming the most conservative even with Salem, not on the seacoast, voting liberal oftentimes.

It's sort of a unique situation, with the Democrats in third place behind the Republicans and Undeclared voters. But if I've figured the numbers right, the Democrats are about to find themselves in 4th place.

Perhaps some concern (misplaced) that Wyoming does not offer the modern lifestyle? Is this group a limited government libertarian group, or an 'I want free drugs' libertarian group?

There were serious questions raised about the rural/rustic mature of much of Wyoming, which I'll have to adnmit have at least a certain seasonal validity: there are homes in the county where my granddad settled with doors on the second story as a means of dealing with snowdrifts.

As for the character of individual Porcupines, that varies with the individual as much as in any other assortment of individuals. But the close results with Wyoming coming in second place should be indicative, as is the establishment of the now inprocess FreeMontana Project in parallel with the FSP efforts in NH.

My guess? This is going to snowball sufficiently to very quickly affect both locales, and probably others as well. Check the math at the link.

-archy-/-

15
posted on 10/01/2003 4:14:10 PM PDT
by archy
(Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)

Me too, not too surprisingly, since I'm the founder and moderator of the FSPWyoming discussion group. But I don't think the possibilities of FSP expansion into alternate states is necessarily contraindicated if the numbers keep pouring in.

And with 150 Porcupines already resident in NH, it'll be real interesting to see how long it takes until that figure doubles.

-archy-/-

18
posted on 10/01/2003 4:22:52 PM PDT
by archy
(Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)

One of the best parts is that the legislature has about 400 members. In such a small state, that means that you probably personally know your legislator.

And it also means that to "influence" the legislature, a special interest really has to get to a lot of people.

And it also means that it's very inexpensive to run for office, which has the effect that legislators don't need help from special interests or lobbists in the first place. They can just represent their community, and that's that.

I remember a great conversation I had with my brother-in-law about the town meetings in a smaller mid-state town. He was giving the town greef because they wanted to paint the school again too soon, cause it could wait another couple of years before it really needed it and it cost too much money. New Hampshites really get into the "direct democracy" thing in lots of the smaller towns.

Sounds good to me..but I get a chuckle thinkin' about what a canfull of nightcrawlers would do to the psyche of those with pharmaceuticaly induced emotional impairments. LOL! Leeches and crickets and meal worms all make great bait as well!

We moved here from South Carolina a few years ago. It was definitely more socially conservative down there. I was surprised at how liberal and PC it is in New Hampshire.

It is very, very expensive to live in southern New Hampshire. Whatever you do, stay away from Bedford. We have a real mess on our hands with the schools. Half the town is very angry with the other half, and our taxes are going to increase greatly no matter what is decided in the upcoming election and really soon, too.

However many people you move to your "free state", expect the libs to import that many Somalians, Djiboutians, Ethiopians, Mexicans, or some other refugee group who will immediately become voters and welfare recipients, nullifying any positive effect you might have.

However many people you move to your "free state", expect the libs to import that many Somalians, Djiboutians, Ethiopians, Mexicans, or some other refugee group who will immediately become voters and welfare recipients, nullifying any positive effect you might have.

I hope this thing works out, though, and spreads.

We've considered that, and have considered a couple of possible counters. Thanks for the concern, and especially for the good wishes.

-archy-/-

33
posted on 10/01/2003 6:12:26 PM PDT
by archy
(Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)

What happened to the rural/urban vs. suburban, and rich vs. poor school funding issue in NH. I posted a good deal of articles on it in the past, but have fried my last computer and all of my catergorized thread lists. I was interested because here in NJ we were going through the final phases of a similar court mandated situation. Now it seems to be a future bone of contention once again.

My company installed and commissioned a gas turbine and waste heat boiler in a paper mill up in Groveton (waaayyy up north) and I spent the better part of three months in Lancaster. There is a small town just north of the Franconia Pass called Littleton. I just love that town. It is right out of a Rockwell painting. Kids walking in groups to school, nice little houses along the road. If I were to move anywhere, I would like to move there. I sure would miss my nice long Tennessee summers, though.

37
posted on 10/01/2003 6:22:25 PM PDT
by Blood of Tyrants
(Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)

At least this particular bunch of "limpertarians" are actually DOING something to restore liberty and limited government in this country. What are you bush-bots doing? Vote for Bush and watch government grow faster than under Clinton and with Trillion dollar deficits to boot. Wonderful.

What do limps do? They are classic run and hide kids. They'd have more effect getting involved with the GOP and changing it from within rather than running races where they get 7 votes, except for the presidential race where Browne gets 25 votes nationwide every 4 years.

Me too. I support the FSP, but I wouldn't want to move to NH, but a chapter of life in Wyoming would be cool as hell.

Just FYI, we are NOT shutting down the WYoming *WYFSP* discussion group just because of the NH selection. The stated goal for the project is Liberty in our lifetime and not just in one state.

If you'd like to go on the PorcuPing list here or join in on the WY state discussions, we'd be glad to have you, just as we'd be glad to have you as a neighbor out in Big Sky Country. And the Montana and other state groups have info worth checking out too- even the *New Hampster* state group.

-archy-/-

47
posted on 10/01/2003 8:08:59 PM PDT
by archy
(Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)

They'd also have more effect moving into a traditionally Democrat state (such as, oh, say DELAWARE) where they (1) cannot do any harm by taking votes away from the Republican while (2) simultaneously providing at least an alternative to the dems in races where where we don't run candidates.

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